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Cooking on a Corby Trouser Press

Today I am a very proud man. I am up in Newcastle – Gateshead to do a talk and also visit our favourite project of our careers The Staiths South Bank housing development. The development is nearly finished, is looking and living wonderfully and today is the opening of the community shop run by two residents on the estate. The café looks great, the food is great and its uplifting to hear how much the community are supporting it. Hopefully now that the riverside Sustrans cycle way is fully open they will get many more casual passers-by as the weather warms up.

The owners of the café put on a great spread at the opening and had as few tasty Panini’s left at the end. Hating to see waste and knowing that breakfast in the hotel I was staying in was £13.50 I decided to take one back to the hotel.

The next morning I ran the 7 miles or so along the Tyne to the historic pedestrian tunnel with a view to getting the Metro back from the other side only to find that it was closed for refurbishment. Rather than fiddle about trying to find another form of public transport I decided to run back. After completing more than a half marathon I was ready for some hot food and not a cold Panini!

I still couldn’t bring myself to spend £13.50 when I had some food in the minibar fridge so I decided to “live the dream”. Having never had the need to use a Corby Trouser Press for their intended use (how many times do your trousers get that creased?) I have always wondered how hot they get, could you cook on one. So leaving the Panini in its brown paper bag I switched the trouser press on and placed the said bagged Panini between the two faces of the press and closed it. Within a few minutes the room was filled with the aroma of pesto and mozzarella and warm ciabatta. It tasted fresh, delicious and was possibly my most satisfying breakfast in living memory.

When I book a hotel from now on I will be checking that they have Corby Trouser Presses.